Bob Lutz Goes on the Defensive for the Chevy Volt

Following an announcement by General Motors that production of the Chevy Volt would be stopped for five weeks, the media and opponents of the Volt have been buzzing about the supposed “failure” of the plug-in hybrid. Fox News recently cast the Chevy Volt “as the poster child of President Obama’s socialist meddling in the free automotive market,” which apparently set former GM vice chairman, Bob Lutz on fire. Lutz recently took to his blog on Forbes.com, in which he fired back at Fox News and the negative press that the Chevy Volt has received.

GM originally planned on selling 45,000 units of the Chevy Volt this year, but has only moved 1,626 units in the first two months of this year. GM also had 6,300 Volts in its inventory at the end of February, which has prompted the automaker to halt production at its Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant. A NHTSA investigation into the safety of the Volt’s battery and negative press from the Republican primary contenders are partially to blame for the Volt’s troubles.

In his latest blog post, Lutz states that “the Volt was largely my idea, and I was its undeniable champion. Work on it was started in 2006. Obama was elected in 2008.” Lutz also contends that no Volts in service have caught on fire. The only Volt battery fires occurred “under extremely destructive experimental conditions.”

When asked why conservative Republicans are rooting against the Volt, Lutz replied, “they all deeply believe that the Volt is (President) Obama’s personal product program, because Rush (Limbaugh) told them so.

Lutz, who reminds critics that he is a political conservative who spent 11 years as a Marine attack aviator, also stated “I just want to keep putting the truth out there, and hope someone notices.”